cool seaweed

rhamphotheca:

Surinam Toad (Pipa pipa)

top image: “Its color is brownish olive, above and whitish below. It is sometimes 7 inches long, and has a peculiarly hideous aspect. After the female has laid the eggs the male places them upon her back, fecundates them, and then presses them into cellules, which at that period open from their receptioin, and afterwards close over them…”

(from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: An encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, 1889, byWilliam Dwight Whitney)

bttm image: At the breeding season the back of the female exhbits a number of small pits; into these pits the male collects the eggs laid by the female in the edge of the water, and presses them down; they are then covered by a natural operculum, and there they are hatched, in the same manner as the free larvae of the other Batrachians…

(from Animal Kingdom Illustrated Vol 2 , 1859, by S. G. Goodrich)

(via scientificillustration)

dailyfossil:

Fasciculus

When: Cambrian (~505 million years ago)

Where: Canada

What: Fasciculus is yet another fantastic fossil from the Burgess Shale fossil site in BC, Canada. It is extremely rare, with only one known specimen. This single specimen was found in 1917, but not fully described in detail until 1996. It is about 4.5 inches (11.4 cm) wide, and is perserved in intricate detail. Unlike most fossils from the Burgess Shale, Fasciculus is confidently linked to a living group. It is placed as a stem Ctenophora,which are the comb-jellies. Comb-jellies are not closely related to ‘normal’ jellyfish, which fall into the cnidaria along with the hydras. Ctenophoras are cup-like animals that swim though the water, with multiple sets of cilia arranged in longitudinal series, so that they resemble combs, giving them their common name of comb-jelly. In Fasciculus you can see these rows wonderfully preserved. The discovery of a stem member of this lineage once again shows that most, if not all, modern phyla were well separated even as long ago as the Cambrian.  

For more read up on this very rare fossil and its contemporaries at: http://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/en/index.php

Reconstruction by Marianne Collins

(via scientificillustration)

oedipalarrangements:

Fluorescent coral under a regular light and then under a black light.